Grade 10 Grammar Lesson 24 Subject and verb agreement (1)

Do singular subjects take singular verbs?
What about plural subjects? Do they take plural verbs?
What do we do with nouns that can be treated as both singular and plural? Do we use singular nouns with them or plural nouns with them?
What verbs do complex sentences take?
What are some nouns that always take plural verbs?

In a sentence, the verb must agree in number with the subject, that is, if the subject is singular, it takes a singular verb and if the subject is plural, it takes a plural verb.

Some nouns with a singular form can be treated as singular or plural. It depends on whether we look at the noun as a single unit or as a collection of individuals.

The verb (singular or plural) is decided by the context in which the noun is used.

When the subject of a sentence is complex; that is, it’s made up of many words; we should take care to identify the main noun in the subject.

Some nouns always end in -s and look like plural, but they take singular verbs. Such nouns include: news, means (=method or money); academic disciplines such as economics, linguistics, mathematics, politics, physics, statistics; some sports like athletics, gymnastics; and some diseases like diabetes, measles, mumps, rabies

Some nouns are usual y plural and take a plural verb. These include:

belongings

clothes

congratulations

earnings

goods

outskirts

particulars

premises

savings

stairs

surroundings

thanks

Nouns such as people, police and staff look singular but always take plural verbs.